Cougars quarterback Bailey Ward finds an open receiver during a practice at Ansbach, Germany, Aug. 28, 2015. Ward said he worked on his throwing mechanics during the offseason and hopes to get more opportunity to air out this season for the defending Division II champions. Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes ()
It’s said that success is where preparation meets opportunity.
DODDS-Europe football teams have had plenty of time for preparation. Now their opportunity has finally arrived.
This weekend, a full month after preseason training camps opened across the continent, represents the long-awaited start of the 2015 DODDS-Europe football season. Two games are set for Friday night, followed by a full slate of seven games Saturday.
The mid-September launch is nearly two weeks later than last year’s Sept. 6 kickoff, a fact largely owing to the DODDS-Europe academic year’s own later start this fall.
Not that teams are complaining, particularly at the Division II level. Some of the smaller schools are using the extra time to flesh out rosters hovering perilously close to the 18-player threshold for a viable football team. And every team in the division has departed starters to replace, vacant roles to fill and novice players to bring up to speed.
“The long preseason has given us an opportunity to really focus on conditioning and teaching our inexperienced players’ fundamentals,” Alconbury coach Rashad Gallon said.
As productive as the late summer has been, however, players across DODDS-Europe are anxious to finally hit someone in a different jersey.
“Anticipation is high,” Gallon said.
The closure of Menwith Hill brings the Division II ranks down to an even dozen, divided into three rearranged divisions – North, Central and South – of four teams apiece. Each team will play five regular-season games, including three against its regional opponents.
The postseason will feature eight teams determined by a points system accounting for win-loss record and strength of opposition. Those teams will play in the quarterfinals the weekend of Oct. 24. The semifinals follow the weekend of Oct. 31, and the Division II title game will be played Nov. 7 at Kaiserslautern High School.
North The weakest overall region in Division II includes the strongest returning program.
Defending champion Ansbach is a heavy favorite to dominate the region, and perhaps the division overall. The other three northern teams – AFNORTH, Alconbury and Baumholder – combined for just two wins in 2014.
Ansbach will still be tested in the regular season. The Cougars open their title defense Friday with a long road trip to Vicenza for a rematch of last year’s semifinal. The following weekend, they’ll host Aviano, the team they beat in the 2014 quarterfinals.
If they survive those Italian tests and handle their turf as expected, the defending champs will cruise into the postseason with a high seed. But Ansbach’s status as the region’s unquestioned juggernaut creates an opportunity for the other three teams in the north: any one of AFNORTH, Alconbury or Baumholder can lock in a winning record by running the table against the other two in that triumvirate and tacking on one out-of-region victory.
Central Bitburg isn’t the world-beater it once was; its four-year reign of Division II championships has given way to a two-year drought of title-game appearances. With their cleats at a crossroads, the Barons are the perfect emblem for a region full of promising but unpredictable teams.
Bitburg is the likely favorite, retaining the culture and infrastructure that makes it an annual force even if its talent level fluctuates. If this year’s pieces fit, it’s not hard to envision Bitburg back in the title game; if they don’t, the Barons might do no better than last year’s one-and-out playoff cameo.
After a winless 2013, upstart Rota sailed into the playoff bracket last year with a 3-2 record, and new championship-tested coach Ken Walter and a robust preseason turnout have the Admirals plotting a course further up the standings. But Rota struggled against fellow playoff teams last fall, and it’s unclear if the program has leveled out on the middle tier below the divisional elite.
SHAPE is another team hoping to add new accolades to a recent history of success. After narrowly missing out on the 2013 European championship, the Spartans took a step back last year, playing to a 3-2 record and a quarterfinal ouster. SHAPE never gets blown out, gives itself a chance to win every game and has the offensive playmakers needed to pull out close wins.
International School of Brussels, meanwhile, has displayed an equal capacity for explosive scoring performances and hapless losses in recent years. If they can balance those extremes and score with consistency, the Raiders could be in line for a playoff run.
South Derisive chatter about Italy’s football chops has trailed off in recent years as all three of the country’s DODDS-Europe football entries – Aviano, Naples and Vicenza – have established themselves as legitimate playoff teams. The Italian trio, along with 2013 champion and 2014 runner-up Hohenfels, comprise Division II’s most rigorous region, the only one in the 2015 lineup comprised exclusively of 2014 playoff teams.
Ironically, however, Italy’s rise might be counterproductive for the individual teams responsible for it. The region’s top-to-bottom strength increases the degree of difficulty for all four teams to cobble together the victories needed for a playoff berth, much less a favorable seed. That’s especially true for Aviano and Vicenza, both of whom drew defending champion Ansbach for one of their two out-of-region games.
Viewed from another angle, however, the difficult schedule is packed with potential points in the form of quality victories over other winning teams. And therein, after a full month of preparation, lies opportunity.
Twitter: @broomestripes
